He just shook his head and hiccupped. “Cold…”
Killian pressed a kiss to his forehead before hugging him. Cocooned between the two men, he didn’t bother trying to stop crying.
Cyrus carefully laiddown with Ender in his arms, while Killian cuddled against them, tears pricked at the corner of his own eyes as the Gorgon continued to cry.
He knew his mind should have been questioning what had set the Cryptid off, but…why bother when he already knew? Guilt was easier.
Ender had said a Fate was responsible for what happened to the Gorgons, and now he knew there was so much more to it than that. Cyrus hadn’t seen anything, it was just one of those moments where he knew things without ever having been told.
One of his relatives, just like what his bastard cousin was doing now at their branch of the Bureau, had Mind Raped Ender.
Mind Raking, a name that was a pathetic attempt to understate what it actually meant, wasn’t something he had ever done. Cyrus knew the mechanics of it, and he likely could do it, even though he’d never tried. But he wouldn’t. He never would.
And it wasn’t because it was technically illegal, or that it would make things too easy. Which it was, and it would have. Taking the will, and all the knowledge he could, from any criminal he touched, would have made his job really fucking easy, but he would never… No one should ever perform such an utterly vile act, because it was a betrayal of freewill, of every fucking moral compass his people—the Fates—claimed to have.
Freewill was at the basis of their principles. While there was, for most things, always other paths, it was up to the individual to make those choices. Fates could guide the world as they knew it, and influence the people around them to do what they thought would lead to the best possible outcome, but they were not supposed to steal the freewill of others and make those choices for them. Sure, they technically could and did manipulate their way to get what they wanted, but Mind Raking was so much worse than that. It was also something he rarely thought about.
Ender’s reaction…though…was clear enough. Yet… He took a deep breath and hesitantly asked, “Did my scent make it worse?”
Ender had to take a stuttered breath before he managed to answer. “A-a bit…”
“I’m sorry.”
“Ha—” The man let out a sad sounding chuckle. “—It’s not you…not really.”
Killian pulled back a little, the Siren looking worried as he ran a hand over the Gorgon’s baby bump. “Nothing’s hurting, is it? You shifted fast and fought pretty hard.”
Ender shook his head. “No…they are pretty well protected in there…”
Cyrus licked his lips. “You knew them personally, didn't you? The person who betrayed your kind?”
“I…” the Gorgon hesitated, even as the man flinched at the question.
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
Sighing, Ender twisted a bit in his hold, so he was resting on his back, the Cryptid’s tired gaze meeting his. “I can…tell a little. It's probably best if you know at least some of it. So you have a heads up as to what to do when I lose my shit. Though—” The Gorgon tsked in disgust. “—considering my instinct was to poison you, if I’m that close, grabbing me is definitely the best option.”
Killian laced one of his hands with Ender’s. “Just tell us what you feel comfortable sharing.”
“His name was…Halus Grimm, and I more than knew him. He was a lifelong friend… I don’t know when that stopped being true. At least, for him.
“For me, I know. After I had already dug my dead family out of my destroyed house, I went looking for my brother…the only body I hadn’t found. The exact moment, I suppose, was when I stood there in front of the crater that was all that remained of my brother’s house, when he, without any shame or regret, toldme that it was all meant to be. It wasn’t hard to realize that he knew… Even worse, that he was responsible…”
“From the reports, to this day, it’s said that someone unidentified leaked the location, and that the population was significantly Cryptid.”
The humans had apparently written off the smaller human population there as traitors…so it was an ‘acceptable’ loss.
“I know. But it was him, and they know it was. The friendship I thought we had was actually an obsession on his part. And every year, it’s that moment that sets me off into a rampage. Probably because I wanted to at the time, but the bastard froze everything, and then he took me.”
He’d barely heard anything, and already Cyrus was almost afraid to hear more. And he knew there was more.
“Three months…that was how long it took Soren to find where he’d taken me.”
“Fuck…” Cyrus cursed, even as his brow rose on hearing that he’d known the Harpy even back then. But he supposed it made sense, based on what the Harpy had said to him on the ship months ago.
Killian looked like he wanted to say something, but the Siren stayed quiet.
“Yeah, I'm afraid you already know where this is going. Have to say, I’ve always thought Mind Raking too pretty of a word for what it actually is, even before really knowing all of what it entailed.
